This message is from the 2022 Kingdom Leaders Summit. In this talk by Dr. Tony Evans, he encourages church leaders to look to the words of Jesus concerning the new covenant to become the kingdom leaders God is calling them to be.

[Applause]

while we’re in a political season and uh

everybody’s looking at the midterms and

anticipating the conclusion of

this cycle to get to 24.

to see who is going to occupy

the White House

and the house of Congress

this is fundamentally

a battle to shift Covenants

to shift

the balance of power who will rule

which party will be seated in the place

of dominance

and influence

Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant

a covenant is an administrative

mechanism

God has one Kingdom but he has varying

administrative mechanisms

and those administrative mechanisms are

called Covenants

in those mechanisms

by which he administers

his kingdom rule

through this covenantal connection

is authorized by someone

we’re told as Hebrews goes on in chapter

12 that Jesus is the mediator of the New

Covenant

he manages

oversees this Divine arrangement for how

God is moving in this dispensation of

his kingdom

so a covenant at ministers

God’s kingdom program in a particular

era

just like in politics when a new

Administration takes over

some things continue and other things

are changed

so it is in the New Covenant

some things transfer over other things

do not

and it is understanding that distinction

which Paul calls rightly dividing the

word of Truth

that helps us to appreciate understand

and navigate

how are we going to function in the

arrangement

that God is particularly operating under

and the arrangement that he is operating

under

is the lordship of Jesus Christ who is

the mediator of the New Covenant and as

the mediator he speaks

that’s what verse 24 says

that he is the mediator of the New

Covenant which speaks better than the

blood of Abel Abel died but Abel as a

man dead still spoke because he was

still alive

he was dead to Earth but alive to Glory

but he spoke in glory and it influenced

what God did on Earth

Jesus is the mediator and a mediator

brings together two parties

so Jesus is the mediator of the new

Arrangement that God is operating on

today

and get in fact in this new Arrangement

God’s philosophy of History

is that all things Ephesians 1 10 will

be summed up in Jesus Christ and our

goal is to get Jesus to talk

it says in the New Covenant

Jesus speaks

and the beautiful thing about Jesus

speaking is

because he’s both God and man he can

speak Heaven and Earth language

because he’s Divine and human he becomes

the link between Time and Eternity

so the question is if Jesus is speaking

how do I hear him talking

and how do I find out what he has to say

since the New Covenant allows him to

speak

bringing heaven and linking it to

history or going back to that concept of

how the spiritual realm links to the

Physical Realm

well after identifying

this principle of Jesus talking as the

New Covenant is administered which we

are part of as Christians and as the

Church of Jesus Christ the question is

hearing God talk hearing Jesus speaks

this leads the author of Hebrews

to this well-known Passage

still in Hebrews chapter 12.

see to it verse 25 says

that you do not refuse him who is

speaking

so he’s just talked about Jesus talking

he says when Jesus is talking don’t turn

him down

don’t refuse or reject

the speech that is coming out of heaven

and in history

he says for if those who did not Escape

when they refused him who warned them on

Earth much less shall we escape when we

turn around from him who warns from

heaven

so Heaven is talking

and it’s talking to us in this new

arrangement

how do I know when Heaven is saying

something to me to us or to our

Ministries

verse 25 and his voice shook the Earth

then but now he has promised saying yet

once more I will shake not only the

Earth but also the heaven

the expression yet once more denotes the

removing of those things which can be

shaken

as of created things so that those

things which cannot be shaken May remain

he says God is talking

the way you know that he is speaking is

he is disturbing the natural Order of

Things

we say that again

you know that God is talking

because the natural order of things are

being disrupted or disturbed

it is when God

shakes the natural order of things that

Jesus has something fresh to say

a fresh word a fresh statement he has

something that he wants to communicate

when this speech takes place

and there is a disturbance

that affects the Earth he says not only

the Earth so it includes the Earth but

it is more than the Earth

it typically involves because it’s

involving both Heaven and Earth

a conflict between the two

between the physical and the spiritual

between the natural and the supernatural

not only the Earth but also the heavens

as well

when Israel got to the Red Sea they were

in a contradiction

you got Pharaoh coming on one side and

you’ve got water on the other side and

they are stuck in between a

contradiction tied to a command they

were supposed to flee but how can I go

and do what I was told to do when I got

this coming here I got that over there

so when you put in a catch-22

is because God has something new he

wants to say

when God told Abraham to kill Isaac

that was full of contradictions

it was a Biblical contradiction because

God had already condemned murder yet God

is telling Abraham to kill his son

it is a theological contradiction

because he told Abraham through Isaac

the nation would be blessed but how is

that possible if I’m killing Isaac it is

an emotional contradiction because it

says that he was the son that Abraham

loved so he got to put his love aside in

order to fulfill the will of God it was

a social a social contradiction because

how could he explain this to the society

in which he lived and it was certainly a

familial contradiction because how is he

going to explain to Sarah I’m getting

ready to go kill our baby boy that we’ve

been waiting all these years me a

hundred and you 90 for us to have this

baby boy in the first place which

explains why he got up early that

morning to sacrifice him he had to get

up before she got up if he was going to

pull this thing off so so it is a

contradiction it is a it is something

that does not make sense

that disrupts the natural order of

things that’s how you know that the New

Covenant that’s authored by Jesus that

mediates Between Heaven and Earth has

something new to say

so when you’re looking at covert when

you’re looking at the racial crisis when

you’re looking at the political crisis

when you’re looking at this disruption

that has disrupted the whole world and

even the ministry of the church is cause

God is talking

he has something to say out of the New

Covenant now whenever something is

disrupted it is uncomfortable

the bad news is it doesn’t feel good if

your order your life your circumstances

has been turned upside down

but most of you ladies here have had a

baby which means that you know what it

is to be in labor

know what it is to go through the pain

of childbirth

but we all know that childbirth

is

bad news in a good situation

the bad news is that it hurts

the good situation is that you’re

creating birthing something new

the joy of birth is not the pain of the

disruption

the joy of birth is the result that

comes from the pain of disruption

or since in spite of what they’re saying

in some parts of the culture today men

don’t get pregnant

the the

we know what it is most of us as men

know what it is to throw up to vomit to

regurgitate okay well that’s usually bad

news in a good situation

because it’s a nasty situation but you

usually feel better after you’ve done it

after you’re throwing up if it’s not

good but you feel better because you got

out something that needed to get out

when God allows A disruption in the

natural order of things it’s because he

has something new he wants to say or

wants to show or wants to communicate

we’re living in a day of shaking we’re

living in a day of disturbance

Martha and Mary ran into a contradiction

Jesus says yours your brother is not

going to die

he says this is not unto death

a few days later he’s dead

that’s a contradiction

the sisters know it’s a contradiction

because both Martha and Mary say said if

you would have been here

this would not have happened in other

words Jesus is your fault

because you weren’t here when you said

you were going to be here

whenever God disappoints you

or disturbs you it’s because he’s

speaking new information to you coming

out of the shaking because there is a

New Covenant at new administrative

manifestation he wants to bring to light

to your life to your environment to your

ministry or in this case what we’re

going through now is a disruption to the

whole world

that’s what’s going to happen when the

Rapture takes place there’s going to be

a disruption in the natural order of

things that’s what’s going to happen

when Jesus returns to set his feet not

in the clouds but on the earth there’s

going to be a disruption in the natural

order of things why because he’s

instituting something new what we’re

going through is God wanting to do

something different to say something new

to to communicate to you me and us that

business is changing there is a New

Covenant strategy at work that God wants

to implement he says the danger is that

you will refuse him who is speaking now

when there is a disruption

in the weather

it’s getting cloudy it’s getting stormy

or you take the hurricane that just hit

Florida and worked itself up to South

Carolina and up the East Coast

the one that got the most attention was

the weatherman or the weather woman

you might normally look at them but they

got undivided attention when there was

this hurricane disruption into the

natural order thing and you really

wanted to hear what they had to say

because this storm was going to turn

your life upside down because there was

going to be this meteorological

interruption

what God is saying is when the storm

hits in the circumstances of life I want

you to pay closer attention

because I’m doing something and I’m

saying something I really want you to

hear so in light of all we’re going

through in Ministry God is talking now

and maybe the tendency is to run out to

quit to throw in the towel when God is

saying no listen more closely because

I’ve got some new information that I

want to share with you so he says do not

turn him down when he is speaking so

that the things which cannot be shaken

May remain

so whenever

there is a Divine disruption

what God is seeking to do

is shrink the physical and expand the

spiritual let me say that again

Whenever there is the Divine disruption

he is seeking to shrink the physical

and he’s seeking to expand the spiritual

you remember some of you had

grandmothers like my grandmother

we would go over to our house on the

weekends in Baltimore Maryland

and we would often spend the weekends

with my grandmother

we would get some Baltimore crabs on

Friday night

my grandfather would buy the crabs and

steamed crabs and we would we would eat

crabs and uh and then we would get up

and watch cartoons on Saturday morning

on one occasion or more than one

occasion

it began to thunder and lightning on

Saturday morning

I remember one time it happened on my

favorite cartoon which was Mighty Mouse

here he comes to save the day

because Mighty Mouse was on the way and

I and I I love to see super Mouse do his

thing

on this particular day that I remember

it’s this thunderstorm coming in

my grandmother said Tony

turn the television off

say what you heard me turn the

television off but I’m watching Mighty

Mouse

turn why do I have to turn the

television off she would say because God

is talking

the thunderstorm met that I had to shut

stuff down because heaven wanted my

undivided attention

grandmother

wasn’t too far off

because what God is saying is when I

disturb the natural order of things I

want to bring to light the spiritual

because the natural has claimed too much

territory

what God has done in the culture

racially class politically

circumstantially is saying y’all have

gotten so secular yeah y’all have gotten

so World oriented that I have been

dumbed down too long for too much so I’m

going to turn this thing around

I’m going to disturb the natural order

of things this happened in um Ezekiel

chapter 43.

talk about politics he told them you

have brought your kings too close to my

throne

he says you have brought your kings and

put their throne in my temple next to my

Throne like we equal

so I’m going to disturb the natural

order of things in Ezekiel chapter 43 to

let you know don’t bring politics that

close to me like we saw me’s twins

and when you look at how the white

church has become

idolatrous Republican and the black

churches become idolatrous Democrats

he’s saying I’ma stir up the whole

political order so you ain’t gonna know

what you are

because I’m going to confuse the whole

thing until you understand there’s only

one king up in this house

and I met

so when God disturbs the natural order

of things he is accentuating the

spiritual he is dumbing down the

physical in the sense of it’s

illegitimacy in promoting that which is

not reflecting my priorities my will and

I’ve got to reshape some things so two

things one of two things is happening

today

number one

either

Jesus is on the precipice of his of his

return and he’s allowing this disruption

with the growth of technology to

facilitate that intervention in the

history known as The Rapture of first

Thessalonians 4

or

it’s not that he’s returning he’s just

resetting things so the church can

become the church again and not just

becoming a facilitator for the culture

with a little Jesus sprinkled on top

because when you look at the church

today it is increasingly abandoning

God’s

Gods so God has shaken things up for us

to have a radical return to his truth

and his standard so that his will his

way and his word becomes the dominant

influence and not just merely one of

another word that the culture gets to

hear he says it is God talking and he

wants undivided attention

so the question then is

what is supposed to be happening since

God is talking

and how am I going to pick up on the

signal for myself for my Ministry or how

he wants to use us in the world in which

we live he keeps going in verse 28 of

Hebrews chapter 12. he says therefore

whenever you see therefore you want to

ask what it’s there for

therefore always links to what he’s just

said therefore

since we receive a kingdom which cannot

be shaken

ah

the word shaken is used again

when we saw a shaken a moment ago it was

God disturbing something

turning things inside out

he uses the word

unshaken it cannot be shaken

so we’re back to my word again

Kingdom okay all right

since we have a kingdom

the Greek word for kingdom is basilia it

means rule or authority it is the rule

of God

‘s rule is comprehended comprehensive

it’s administered covenantally it’s

administered according to a regime over

which Jesus is over now and Jesus is now

the one talking on behalf of God he’s

talking about the kingdom the kingdom

that we have received that cannot be

shaken in other words it is a kingdom

that is not subject to the culture let

me say that again

the culture is Disturbed

because God is talking

but God is talking in a disturbed

culture to talk about a kingdom that

cannot be disturbed

so he’s talking about the rule and reign

of God in the midst of the chaos of

culture so in the midst of all this

craziness that’s going on that should be

one place

that is not budging

when everything else is shifting

there should be one place that’s stable

when everything else is changing

so if you are

losing your stability I am losing my

stability that means we’re too

culturally attached

and because he does not want us

culturally attached he will let us get

as Disturbed as the culture is until we

return to a kingdom that cannot be

shaken

so if we All Shook Up

like everybody else is All Shook Up

we’re too attached

since we’re too attached he’s going to

let us get shook up like that shook up

until we get reattached because he wants

to reveal a kingdom a rule that cannot

be shaken or disturbed by what is

happening around us if you’re in an

airplane

and there’s you notice how orderly

things look in the plane

I mean the the the the Farmland is all

squared and the the highways are all in

order and everything’s looks so peaceful

when you’re flying in a plane once you

hit the ground

you hit the chaos up in the plane you

see the order and the reason is because

you’re looking at it from a different

perspective you’re looking at it from up

there and not down here too much God’s

church is looking at things down here to

determine what they’re going to do and

who they’re going to be rather than

things from up there

to determine how things are going to

stay I love the story of Joshua fitting

the Battle of Jericho

Joshua fit in the Battle of Jerry Cole

and then the two the two spies going to

the red light district and they run into

Rahab

Rahab says I hadn’t heard about your God

and I believe in your God she receives

the spies

we’re told that not only did she receive

the spines but she sent them out another

way

and she lied about it because she told

the people at the door I don’t know who

they are I haven’t seen them

she sends them out another way

the two spies say to her

when we come back and shut this mama

down

when we come down and bring up Jericho

to its collapse

bring all of your Kim folk into your

house

and when this Jericho collapses

because of what you’ve done you and your

family will be spared

so will you ever preach the story of

Joshua fitting the Battle of Jericho

don’t make all the Wall come down

because the Bible says rahab’s house was

embedded in the wall

so her house was attached to the wall so

when the walls of Jericho fell down

there was a piece of the wall Still

Standing because her house was attached

to it

her house was attached to a piece of the

wall that was not going to be subject to

the rest of the wall because it was

operating under a different realm under

a different Authority so it was not

subject

your church and my church should not be

subject to all this craziness happening

in the culture

it shouldn’t be subject to the

redefinition of marriage it shouldn’t be

subject to the redefinition of gender it

shouldn’t be subject to the divisiveness

of race it shouldn’t be subject to the

divisiveness of politics or class or

culture why because we attached to a

whole nother wall that does not Shake it

does not move it does not budge it’s

operating on a whole different shall I

dare say this word Kingdom Agenda it’s

operating on a whole different program

of God and therefore it’s not subject

but because we’ve gotten so attached to

the wrong wall when the wrong walls fall

we fall with it because we’re not

attached to the promise wall where Jesus

is saying this is unshakable location it

does not move with the culture because

we’re not listening to the right word

what God is saying to the church today

is I want you to act on the kingdom you

have received since we have received a

kingdom that cannot be shaken

guess what he goes on to say he says

this is the time for Ministry to go to a

whole new level

let us show gratitude by which we may

offer God an acceptable service he says

this is not a time when I’m talking and

shutting everything up and flipping

everything over for you to run this is a

time for you to take Ministry to the

next level

in fact he not only says take Ministry

to the next level he says I want you to

take it to the next level with a smile

he says take it with gratitude he wants

you to be grateful you’re not grateful

in labor for the pain you’re grateful

for the baby so he’s not saying be

grateful for the inconvenience he’s

saying be grateful for the opportunity

because in the middle of this madness

I’m going to show you what an unshakable

situation looks like but you can’t be

listening to the wrong voice

Fort Worth is 30 miles and 30 minutes

from here on one occasion

I was asked to go to Fort Worth to speak

in the evening

got in my car

and it was before all this computer

stuff and fancy stuff and GPS stuff they

fax the direction to me to Sylvia and

Sylvia printed it and gave it to me

so I had

the word from the pastor

giving me the directions for where I was

to go to get to his church 30 minutes

from here in Fort Worth

so I read the directions and I went down

20 then I was to get on 8 20. then I saw

the exit I got off the exit

I turned left

to begin to make my way to the church

I’m driving and I’m driving and I’m

driving and I’m driving

but I’m not seeing the church

now I’m in the country

I’m in the country

if there’s a church out here Dr

Doolittle is the pastor

because I’m not seeing anything but

horses and cows and sheep and goats I am

in the country

so now I’m a little confused I’m

supposed to speak at seven

it’s ten of seven

and I can’t find the church so I turn

around

and make my way back the other day

other way

and I pull over to a 7-Eleven and ask

them do you know where this church is

he tells me well yes you go down two

blocks and turn left again

thank you I went two blocks turned left

but now I’m in a residential district

there’s nothing but houses in here

I had a cul-de-sac so there’s no place

further for me to go

I back up and turn around come back out

go to the next light another person

pulls up to me I turn down my window

waved them to turn down that window do

you know where this church is

they gave me another Direction

I went there and there was no church

now it’s seven o’clock

so now I’m late

I decide to pick up the paper from the

pastor

I started off with the word

but then when I hit the exit

I turned left leaning to my own

understanding

then I started talking to folk who I

thought should know something

and they let me further astray

I decided to pick up the paper from the

pastor because the pastor should know

where his church is located

I picked it up and I saw what happened

I read two-thirds of the word

but the last third of the word I didn’t

pay attention to it said when you get to

the bottom of the exit turn right

I turn left

when I went back and retraced and turned

right

the church was one block from the exit

I went all around the Marbury bush

because I was not letting the author

tell me which way to go I didn’t pay

attention to the writer of the

directions

when a chaos starts happening you want

to look for two things

what has God said in his written word

and what is he saying in his

circumstantial operation with these

shaking things disturbing things the

written word is like a

it’s like a uh a rule book and a

football game

it’s a rule book in a football game and

that’s the standard for everybody who

plays football

but then there every team has their own

Playbook

their playbook is different

and the Playbook is unique to each team

and within the Playbook there are

audibles called by the quarterback the

quarterback may go up to the line of

scrimmage and change this play on the

spot because he sees the defense lining

up in a way he did not pre-anticipate

none of things in the rule book changes

but things regularly change in the

Playbook or on the field depending on

what’s happening at the moment

the Bible is the rule book so that gives

the standard for everybody

because it’s the rule book

but God is regularly Shifting The

Playbook and sometimes he audibolizes

the call on despair at the moment so if

you’re not paying attention you may know

the rule book but not know the Playbook

the Reason God gives us the holy spirit

is so that he can within the rule book

of the word give us the Playbook of our

action

and sometimes he audibolizes it on the

spot so that you have to make a quick

turn and a quick change because of what

Satan or the world or the culture is

doing it’s amazing how many pastors

don’t change their sermons when the

world is disrupted by a situation that

happens in Minnesota when a man is

killed by a policeman and they just

preaching that series like nothing

happened because the Holy Spirit doesn’t

have the freedom to call an audible in

the series because they’re not in tune

to the shaking that has occurred in the

culture so that God’s Playbook can be

communicated to God’s people rule book

can be complete communicated to God’s

people because the pastor has gotten the

Playbook or the audible that’s needed

for the disturbance that has occurred he

says I want you to give an unshakable

answer to what’s happening in the

culture when things are falling apart so

my challenge to you today is to not to

look at the inconveniences we are all

experiencing as a distress but as a

communication device God is saying he

wants us in a different way at a

different level based on the object of

truth of the word to the subject reality

of its application in the experience of

the ministry we perform to demonstrate

that while everything else is shaken

we’re not shaken you know uh

when they uh are when you iron your

clothes

you’re disturbing the natural Order of

Things

things are wrinkled and you’re putting

fire on it if the shirt or blouse could

talk they would say it’s hot up in here

they would say you’re burning me up

the closing closing line of that verse

says for our God is a consuming fire

now when a sacrifice

was consumed on the altar that was bad

news and good news

it was bad news for the animal but good

news for the people

when the animal was put on the altar the

bad news is had to die and give up his

life but it meant the Forgiveness of

sins for the people so the bad news was

good news happening at the very same

time for the animal bad for the people

good our God is a consuming fire when

you put that iron on the shirt or the

blouse guess what it’s doing it’s

consuming wrinkles it’s consuming things

that need to be changed it’s consuming

things that are wrong that need to be

made right and why do you put that hot

iron on that blouse or shirt because you

want to straighten something out

something that’s not straight needs to

be made straight but you got to create

some heated inconvenience for it to get

straight or else it’ll just look bad and

be wrinkled right now God has a hot iron

on the church

that’s because it’s too wrinkled that’s

because it’s been hanging out in the

culture too long and it’s not

representing the unshakable level of the

Kingdom so I agree with you it is hot up

in here if we’re trying to do ministry

but you know why you iron that blouse or

you iron that shirt because you’re gonna

wear it you’re gonna put it on and

you’re gonna look good in it you know

why God is allowing the chaos and the

culture the show is on unshakable

Kingdom because he wants to wear us and

he wants to look good in us but he got

to get the wrinkles out of us first so

that when he puts on Jesus Christ and he

puts on the kingdom Garb that his

kingdom people looking good and not

walking around or ministering with

wrinkled circumstances and wrinkled

Ministry because they’re shaking like

the culture God is talking and he’s got

some good news he wants you to reattach

to the unshakable kingdom so that when

the world is falling apart they’re

falling apart in the midst of a man his

family and a ministry that’s not falling

apart because it’s tied to an unshakable

Kingdom and all God’s people said

amen and amen